Concerning Ran
by CurrentlyIncognito
Summary: I'll wait for you Shinichi...no matter how long it takes... I'll wait for you...' and yet... assuming a thousand and one tragedies did not occur onto Shinichi, what if one befell on Ran? Will he wait for her?
1. Waiting

Disclaimer: Detective Conan does not belong to me. :( unfortunately...

'Sonoko…' pleaded the petite nineteen-year-old with an audible sigh. 'You know how I feel about these blind dates,' she stated for the umpteenth time, her hands placed on her hips, her eyes almost unforgiving.

'You're not still waiting for the deducting maniac are you?!' her friend countered, quoting from the slightly lovesick adolescence.

'No way,' she said instantly, her cheeks crimsoning slightly. She turned away guiltily, her sight landing on a beautiful satin gown on the display window. 'What were we shopping for again?' she enquired honestly, steering away from their double date later.

'Proper attire for you,' she answered promptly, her gaze following Ran's. 'It's a bit too glamorous, don't you think?'

'Oh,' she smiled gently, 'it's not for me. I have an aunt who's getting married in December.' She took out a camera from her backpack and snapped a quick picture.

'Let's try it on,' Sonoko suggested suddenly, looking wistful. Ran raised an quizzical eyebrow at her friend. She grinned mysteriously, 'Who knows when the idiot might propose,' she danced into the bridal shop happily. Ran shook her head helplessly and followed Sonoko through the door.

'Ran you look beautiful,' Sonoko commented, looking at her friend in almost disbelief. She really can't believe how mature her friend had grown in the past two years. Ran looked more and more like her mother, especially when she's wearing that stern, 'untouchable, strong-woman look'. Which probably explains why Sonoko hates Shinichi so much. If it hadn't been for the idiot, Ran would've been hooked up with some handsome rich guy instead of having to hang up with Sonoko.

'I look horrible,' she said, looking at her reflection. 'In fact, I look lik- Sonoko, what're you doing?' she threw back her head and gave her friend an enquiring look, smiling slightly.

'Perfect!' she exclaimed, snapping a picture with her hand phone. 'Wait till I send Shinichi this picture! He'll be fuming mad!' she laughed gleefully.

'And why would he be 'fuming mad?'' Ran asked testily, catching her friend in a scheme.

Sonoko grinned, 'Shinichi,' she read from her hand phone. 'Ran's getting married this Saturday with a rich, handsome and understanding doctor. You're welcomed if you're not busy solving cases. Ps: Isn't she gorgeous?' she was grinning like a Persian.

'Give that to me!' Ran exclaimed, reaching for the hand phone as if her life depended on it, her face scarlet.

'Okay,' Sonoko handed the device over calmly. Ran frowned at the lack of reluctance and read the message on the screen.

Message delivered

* * *

SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA

_Beep Beep_

Shinichi rolled over to the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes sleepily. 'How long have I been asleep,' he thought with a tad of annoyance. He snatched his hand phone up and read the name of sender of the message hastily. A small grin played at the edge of his lips, 'that Sonoko never give ups, does she?' He could almost guess the contents of the message. He deleted the message without reading it. The smile disappeared as he read the saw the next message.

Dragging himself out of bed, he linked his computer to the tiny machine in his hand and repeated the routine he had been doing the last few months. _Save message?_ YES. _Message saved. File name? _RAN'S MESSAGE #141-146.Six messages this week, he thought sadly.

He leant back into the soft leather and closed his eyes. He's too close to the truth. 'No distractions,' he whispered almost painfully, convincing himself that he is doing the right thing. 'No more lies…'

'_Shinichi! Where are you? I've been trying to reach you all week!' Ran had screamed into her mobile as soon as she knew who was on the other side. _

'_Ran… I… I have a major case I need to solve and I … I uh…'_

'_Shinichi?'_

'_I'm sorry Ran… I know this is selfish… but… I …'_

'_Shinichi?'_

'_I… I don't think…' _I'll make it alive, Ran _'Ran… I… just… I' _I want you to keep waiting… even though I might not make it back alive… I want you to keep waiting…

'_Shinichi…'_

I love you Mouri, Ran. That's why I need to keep you safely hidden in the dark… I won't have them coming to get you… that's why I… I can't let you wait. I can't let you wait for me. Because I might not be coming back. But Lord forgive me, I want you to wait. For me.

'_Ran… I..'_

'_Shinichi… I'll wait for you Shinichi… no matter how long it takes you to come back… I'll wait for you…'_

'_Ran…'_

'_That's what you wanted to say right? 'Wait for me',' she laughed gently, he could almost see the tears tickling down her face. _

'_Ran…'_

'_I'll wait for you Shinichi…no matter how long it takes…'_

'_Ran… I want you to know… that…I…' I love you, 'I… can't have any contact with you for a while, Ran…'_

_A soft snort from her, 'It's not like it hasn't happened before you know. Don't worry, I'll kept pestering you until you call back.' _So you'd better call back Shinichi, because I'm prepared to wait forever.

'_I'd love that… Ran…' _I love you _'thank you…'_

I'll come back Ran. I promise. And I'll say it, with my own voice, in my own body

_

* * *

_

RAN'S MESSAGE #3

Conan-kun said he'll be leaving to stay with his parents. I'm a bit worried about him. I really wish he could stay, but I'm would be really selfish to ask that of him. The two of you are really similar you know? No wonder you're blood related. :P

RAN"S MESSAGE #21

I won the competition I told you about last week. Sonoko took me to a fancy restaurant to celebrate. I stopped by your place by the way. I prepared a Christmas present for you. I passed it to Professor Agasa so you could get it when you stop by. Happy Christmas.

RAN'S MESSAGE #30

I went to my father's flat this morning. Mom's been awfully nice about accompanying me there. I'm glad they're not at each other's throat anymore. Next, I'll just have to figure out a way to get them to live together again. :)


	2. Hiding

RAN'S MESSAGE #1

Shinichi… I think I'll message you from now on. Talking to the phone feels kind of weird when I know you probably won't be listening at the other end.  At least not so soon anyway. You must have an excuse for not wanting to have any contact with me.

FLASHBACK

She was late that night. And he was growing worried. It's not like Ran to be late. Flipping through various channels on the TV, Conan ran an agitated hand through his already messy hair. 'She's a big girl, she can take care of herself,' he told himself silently. 'She probably got stuck up in traffic and forgot to turn on her handphone,' he convinced himself. 'Yeah, that's probably it. She-' a loud clang interrupted his chain of worries.

Mr. Mouri grunted an apology to no one in particular and continued to slumber on his desk. Shinichi ignored the beer can and dialed Ran's phone number for the hundredth time. He glanced at his watch as he slammed the receiver down, no longer worried about waking the drunken man up. Eleven thirty. She should've been back three hours ago, an hour before the private detective fell into his deep slumber.

Conan ran a hand through his hair again, calming himself down. 'Maybe the black organization got to her. Maybe she was attacked on her way here. Maybe..' Conan's head snapped up as the door creaked open. The said eighteen year old teenager walked on tip-toes into the agency, her face concealed beneath a bright blue scarf, her hair hidden under a red cap. For a staggering moment, Conan wanted to shout at her for making him worry. He recollected himself and put on an innocent seven-year-old face.

'Ran nee-chan,' he exclaimed with a forced smile plastered on his face.

'Conan-kun!' she half shrieked. She placed a hand over her heart and breathed, 'Don't scare me like that!' Walking over to the child living with her for the past year, she smiled and hugged him tightly.

'Ran nee-chan…' he sounded worried, his face furrowed. _Something's wrong,_ he thought fleetingly.

'You were waiting for me, weren't you?' Ran enquired gently. 'I'm sorry I'm late. I was caught up in something,' she smiled and released him. Standing up, she resumed her mother-hen role and proceeded to remind him that it's two and a half hour past his bedtime.

'Are you alright, Ran nee-chan? You look pale,' Conan commented, looking truly worried.

'It was a bit cold outside. I'm fine, really. Now go to sleep,' she smiled, waving him off. 'I'm going to make myself some hot cocoa,' she decided happily. She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw her father sprawled out in the heap of beer cans on his desk. She sighed and woke him up, half dragging him to his bed.

'Ran nee-chan?' Conan enquired quietly as she finished her task. She was slightly taken aside by the worried look on his face.

'Yes, Conan-kun?' she stammered.

'Where did you get that cap? You didn't have it on when you went out,' he asked with innocent curiosity. Her hands went instinctively to the bright new cap on her head.

'I uhh… I bought it from a store on my way back. Isn't it absolutely adorable?' she grinned offhandedly. 'Now, go to sleep Conan. You have school tomorrow,' she ordered.

'Good night, Ran nee-chan,' Conan stated, looking not the least bit convinced.

She slid onto the floor as soon as she heard his door click shut. She placed a hand delicately on her cap and gingerly took it off. Wincing slightly, Ran ran a finger through the freshly sewn gash that crept from the top of her forehead.

'What have you gotten yourself into silly girl?' she whispered as a single tear found it's way down her cheek. She brushed it away angrily and pulled herself up. She headed towards the kitchen and started making herself a cup of hot cocoa.

The phone started ringing as soon as she finished making her drink. Pouting, she walked over to pick up the phone. Her hands trembled as it floated above the receiver, _'Could it be Shinichi?' _she thought hopefully.

'Hello, Ran Mouri speaking,' she started hesitantly.

'Oh, it's me. Just making sure you got back safely,' the doctor at the other end of the line stated a matter of factly.

'Oh… I'm fine thanks. Umm…' she hesitated. 'Thanks for… umm… you know…everything,' she finished somewhat lamely.

'You _are_ my charge you know,' he stated jokingly. 'I'm supposed to make sure you survive till the next semester.'

She laughed gently, 'thank you _doctor_.'

'You can thank me by telling me why you had that injury in the first place,' he said suddenly, his voice serious.

'It's no big deal, really,' she lied.

'Don't you give me that line Ran. You and I both know that's a knife wound. Do yourself some good and report it. I thought you're a karate champion?' he paused. She could almost see his worry lines furrow at the other side of the phone, 'You were ambushed weren't you?'

She laughed, 'Of course not. And it's not a deep wound. It just looks horrible. I'll be as good as new in a couple of days!'

He sighed in defeat, 'Just take care of yourself child. Remember to let me check on the wound tomorrow.'

'See you then,' she said with a forced laugh. Replacing the receiver, she took a deep breath and placed a hand tentatively on her wound. She winched unwillingly, unconscious of the miniature pair of eyes staring at her from the gap of his door.

'Ran…' Shinichi whispered sadly.

'Haibara,' the child's voice was tensed, and she could tell it was no good news, 'I'm leaving,' he stated simply, sitting on his chair, his face stony. Ai Haibara raised an enquiring eyebrow at him. He took a deep breath, 'Ran… was targeted.'

Haibara drank in the information with ease. It was bound to happen sooner of later. She smiled gently at her classmates as they entered.

He took another deep breath, 'we're leaving,' he repeated.

'When?'

RAN'S MESSAGE #19

It's been two weeks since Conan-kun left. I miss him. Shinichi. I miss you.


	3. Dying

RAN'S MESSAGE #33

Business has been terrible lately. Anyway, dad's thinking of going back into the police business. Mom's totally against it. Claims I need someone to take care of me at home. :P liar.

RAN'S MESSAGE #40

I saw a man lurking outside the agency today. Remember the two men we saw at the amusement park? I think he's the one with the long hair.

The double date Sonoko brought her to was a disaster. The guys, it turns out, had been just broken up with their girlfriends and Makoto, who just _happened _to pass by the restaurant was enraged. No, enraged would be exaggerating. He saw two nasty looking guys –two nasty looking _drunk_ guys- talking with two unwilling looking female and assumed the worst.

Ran winced at the memory. She knocked on the door of her father's detective agency and waited. And waited. 'Dad?' she shouted, rapping the door harder. She was getting worried. The news this morning reported that a criminal had escaped from prison. A criminal Detective Mouri had helped bring down.

'Dad!' She was on the verge of screaming, 'I'm going to count to three. And then I'm going to bring the door down,' she warned. Backing away from the door, the nineteen year of karate champion took her stance and counted loudly, 'One… Two…

'Three!' she kicked the door with all the strength she could muster. The door did not stand a chance, it broke open with a loud 'BANG'. Running into the apartment she had got to know so well, she saw the said detective sprawled on the table, a few bottles of liquor discarded on the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief.

'At least he's okay,' she whispered to herself with a small smile. Then she remembered what she did to the door. 'I'm sure he'll understand.' _Not._

'Dad, I thought you gave up on the disgusting stuff?' she said out loud, twitching her nose and shaking her head at the mess disdainfully. 'Come on, get up dad. At least sleep on a proper bed,' she said, helping her father up. Placing both hands under his armpits, she heaved her father into sitting position.

'Get up dad,' she pleaded, pulling her father up and dragging him to his room. A loud thud behind her made Ran look back. She let go of the deadweight without realizing it. Her father slipped onto the floor silently. She stared and told herself to breath. She wobbled towards the fallen object, forcing her legs to move. Kneeling onto the floor, she held the circular mass in her hands.

Beneath the blood and hair, her father's eyes stared back at her lifelessly.

* * *

'Talk woman!' the man shouted roughly, his voice echoing maliciously in the empty warehouse. 'Where is he?!' he repeated the question for the hundredth time in two days. He pulled the woman's hair back roughly, 'tell us where he is, and you go free,' he promised.

Her lips were cracked from the deprivation of water but she laughed anyway. The man punched her across her face without remorse. 'You'd better start talking woman. No one's going to come and save you,' he punctuated his words with an angry kick at the door. 'You're next Rakia'

The raven haired man stood before her menacingly. 'Apparently, you don't know where you stand woman,' he droned. 'Let me enlighten you,' he carried on in his deep monotonous voice. He shoved a newspaper clipping into the female's face, 'Can you read? No?' he laughed without mirth.

'Let me read it for you. _Famous detective Mouri was found dead in his apartment early this morning by his daughter, Ran Mouri. Police suspects homicide. _Well, isn't that obvious. He had his head decapitated!' he laughed again. She winced at the mention of the detective. 'Blablabla,' he sang, throwing a few clippings on the already rubbish littered floor.

'Ah,' he exclaimed, 'there it is. _Daughter of Detective Mouri, who was savagely murdered two days ago was found dead in a head on collision with a bus last evening. The said female karate champion was said to be a tad unstable after discovering her father's mutilated corpse…' _he showed her a picture of the poor woman in her car. Her long brown hair covered most of her bloodied face and the rest of her body as the rest of her car was lost in the wreckage.

'How-' the woman started, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

The man laughed, 'So you see _Ran Mouri_. Nobody know's you're alive. Let alone where you are. No. One. Is. Coming. For. You.' He emphasized each word by tearing the newspaper clipping into thin strips. 'You'd better tell us where your boyfriend is Ran. Because we have got all the time in the world to make you talk.' And with that he walked away.

'I don't know where he is,' she retorted. 'So just kill me,' she whispered. 'You _lie_!' he shouted, turning back to face her. 'Don't think we don't know, you've been messaging him for the last few months.'

'Have you seen me receive any replies?' she enquired politely, her voice cracked and painful. She stirred uncomfortably on her chair, her hands scratched against the ropes painfully, jolting her back to reality just as she threatened to doze off.

'You KNOW where he is!' he insisted. 'Tell me, and you save yourself a whole lot of torture,' he threatened, his voice trembling with anger.

'You must be the major case he's been handling,' she said with a mirthless laugh. 'And to think he kept all those secrets from me just to keep me save.' She raised her head and glared at her kidnapper with renewed hatred. 'Tell me,' she growled, 'who killed my father?'

'The drunk pig?' he grinned proudly, 'I did.'

They did a terrible mistake of loosening her bonds after starving her for two days. Something about disrupting the flow of blood. Either way, her legs were untied and she made use of that. Fueled with her anger, she kicked the man between his legs with as much force as she could summon. Then, standing up, she turned around and ran the chair into him, breaking the chair in the process.

His partner ran into the room immediately, 'Is anything wrong?' he asked, alarmed. Looking at his unconscious partner on the floor he raised his gun and aimed to shoot. The shot rang through the abandoned village maliciously, echoing into the night until it was heard no more.

RAN'S MESSAGE #45

It's a beautiful day today Shinichi. Sonoko and I went to the beach for a swim. Just wondering what you're doing today.

RAN'S MESSAGE #52

Exam's finally finnished. I'm going into medicine I think. What'd you think? Mom says I'm no good in Law. Wonder why? But anyway, Sonoko insisted I give medicine a try. Why not? Then you can be Sherlock and I'll be Watson.


	4. Losing

RAN'S MESSAGE #59

I've decided. Medicine it is. They've even got a Karate Club! I'm so excited. Wish you were here.

He woke up calling her name that day. Then, frowning, he tried to forget about it as much as he could. He bought an second hand copy of Conan's work to read. He tried puzzles, word games, chess boards, football, hell he even went as far as trying to cook his own meal. Try as he might, Shinichi Kudo could not get her off his mind.

'Kudo,' Haibara stated finally, after watching the little boy pace around the tiny apartment they shared for half an hour, 'stop.'

He complied. 'I'm calling professor Agasa,' he stated after twenty nine seconds. Yes, Ai Haibara was timing him.

His partner gave him a weary look, 'We're almost there Kudo, don't ruin it now.'

'I know Haibara,' he ran a hand nervously over his hair, 'it's just…' he stopped himself. What was he going to say? _I feel there's something wrong with Ran? _'Nevermind,' he said, finally able to convince himself that it was just his nerves.

* * *

_Life could not get any better_, Shinichi thought to himself gleefully as he walked out the airport amidst the group of tourists. Finally, after months of being away, he can finally get back safely to home. 

_To Ran._

Still, he would have to get past the reporters unnoticed first. He had not had a chance to rest since he'd brought down the syndicate. The police had about a thousand and one questions that requires compulsory answers. And he had not had the chance to call back home yet. Still, they let him come back as soon as they're done interrogating him.

He and Ai had had to hide in the middle of nowhere for the past month in order to shake them off their trial and plan for the attack. But everything went pretty well in the end…

Life was pretty good.

The reporters were already swarming outside the airport. News travels fast these days. Wearing a worn jacket and a cap he snagged on his way back, he pulled his raggy looking luggage out down the stairs through the reporters.

'SHINICHI KUDO!!' shouted one particularly annoying kid after he got a look under the cap.

The reporters snapped their heads in his directly immediately. They started shooting the questions at about the speed of a Maglev Train in no direction in particular. But by that time he was long gone.

* * *

'Last one,' he promised himself softly as he stared out through the window and the woods. 

Officer Megure eyed him from the driver's seat oddly. 'Something wrong Shinichi?' he enquired, carefully choosing his words. He didn't appear to have heard him and the officer repeated his question.

'Oh, nothing,' he smiled, 'just thinking about the baka detective.'

Officer Megure all but slammed the brakes of his car. 'Whi…which detective?' he stuttered, stealing a few questioning glances at the young man.

'Just kidding,' he stated with a laugh. Then, glancing at the startled look on his escorts' face, he was almost tempted to ask for the reason. 'I'm simply wondering why they leaked out the location of this hideout on purpose,' he lied.

'We'll know soon enough,' the police said, quiet once more.

The hidden warehouse was not quite hidden. Simply remote and abandoned. The three police cars cruised on the rocky streets, quiet unsure of what they're searching for. Overgrown hedges and creepers screamed negligence at the officers.

'Are you sure they're not pulling your leg Shinichi?' Officer Megure questioned, driving through the same road for the second time.

'They have nothing to gain by doing so,' he smiled, 'except perhaps wasting my time.' He was cross-examining each house carefully. Surely enough, as they neared an old, creaky warehouse, he ordered- yes ordered- them to stop. 'This is it,' he stated simply.

'In position everyone!' Officer Megure ordered.

Even as he said the words, two men walked out of the abandoned building. Holding their hands in the air, they were smirking as they surrendered. Shinichi frowned, he was not expecting to find anything here. Well, he _was_ expecting an explosion of some kind. But not people. Honestly, those two had all the time in the world to run.

He stood motionless, thinking of all the possible explanation as the police handcuffed them. One of the men appeared to be blinded in one eye while the other was limping as he walked. Both looked fine otherwise, with identical black hair and wearing black suits.

He accompanied them back to the car silently. _Nothing, _he thought as he walked _I can think of nothing they achieve by baiting me out here_.

'Oy, kid,' the one-eyed man called back as he sat in the car. 'I hope you've been reading the papers,' he grinned maniacally. 'Your girlfriend looks great dead, no?' he smirked. The officers stopped dead in their tracks. Officer Satou, who'd been holding him caught him by his collar and slammed him against the car, '_You're responsible?!'_ He paid no heed to her, looking at Shinichi with a triumphed look on his face. 'He doesn't know,' he whispered.

Miwako Satou released him and averted her gaze on Shinichi. As did the rest of the officers.

'Does… doesn't….Doesn't know what?' he spluttered.

'You didn't know?' officer Takagi stuttered.

'He doesn't know!' the one-eyed man laughed. 'Shinichi Kudo was too busy chasing after facts to realise…' his grin was wide and malicious, 'his little girlfriend was dead.'

'Dead?' he repeated calmly. Walking towards the man, he clenched and unclenched his fists. 'Don't you _dare_ speak of her that way,' he threatened, pinning the man against the car.

'Ran Mouri died in a car crash two days after her father, Shinichi Kudo,' he droned. 'Two weeks ago. Ran Mouri is dead. Dead. Dead. DEAD.'

'You _lie_,' he said.

He merely smiled and gave him a sad look.

Officer Miwako placed her hand gently on his shoulder, 'He's not lying.'

'He's _lying!'_ he insisted, shaking the man roughly.

'Shinichi…'

'He's LYING!' he shouted. 'You didn't let yourself be caught just so you could tell me this. I would've found out myself. Tell me the truth!'

'Smart kid,' he growled. 'No, we didn't let ourselves get caught just because we'd like to break the news ourselves.'

'We let ourselves be caught,' the silent man in the car started, 'to let you know how pretty we think your girlfriend is.' The two men laughed as if it was their secret joke. 'Listen,' he whispered. A vaguely familiar sound emitted from his back pocket.

'_You must be the major case he's been handling…' silent laughter 'and to think he kept all those secrets from me just to keep me save…' _

Silence filled the air as they tried to imbibe what they've just heard. 'Surprised? I've got more,' he laughed.

_A scream filled the air, more of surprise than pain, 'ouch?' she giggled and coughed. 'You should bandage that. Unless you want me to die of blood loss, of course.' _

'We've had so much fun with her,' the one-eyed man said, shaking his head slightly. 'Pity she has to die…' Shinichi was onto him in less than a second, though he only manage to land a few punches before the police regained their senses and restrained him. They stopped as the voice continued…

'_He's going to get you. And you won't be able to hurt anyone anymore. That thought comforts me…' _

He could almost see her smiling. 'Stop it! Stop it!' Miwako screamed, she had covered her ears with her hands, tears dripping down her face. Officer Takagi was too dumbstruck to try and comfort her. No one moved.

'_You're not bad people really… I hope, you'll see one day. How the world can be a beautiful place…. After you go to jail of course,' she laughed._

Officer Megure pulled the man out of the car and searched him, trying to find the damned thing and turn it off. It wasn't in his back pocket. Or any other pockets. He paused as the sound started again.

'_You _recorded _me?!_' _she screamed, suddenly furious. Sounds of struggling and a loud bang as a gun went off. 'You can still fight,' a man's voice stated icily. 'Burn that!' she ordered, breathing heavily. 'Actually, we're going to give you to your precious boyfriend,' he taunted. '_NO!'_ she screamed, 'don't' she was crying. 'It'll kill him…'_

'First time we heard her cry. After ten days. She's one tough cookie,' the man laughed. Officer Megure finally found the tape, hiding in a small compartment on the soles of his shoes.

'Don't' Shinichi stated. 'I want to hear it.' A few female officer had broken into tears. The others simply looked away. Most of them had gotten to know the gentle girl. Watched her grow up. Officer Megure's finger hovered above the stop button, but he was deterred from pushing it when the tape started rolling again…

_A splash, a gasp and then, 'I'm awake…' she was shivering. … 'Shinichi…' _he tensed _she took a deep breath, 'you're doing me a favor, by the way,' she giggled, 'Shinichi Kudo,' her voice seem to fail her. 'I love you…' _

'You might want to know she's still in the building by the way,' the man stated suddenly, with an odd grin on his face. A motorcycle roared into view even as he said it. Shinichi looked towards the said building hesitantly.

'Ran…' he whispered, then louder, 'Ran!' as he made towards the warehouse, his legs suddenly weakened.

'Grab him!' a familiar voice ordered, holding him in place. 'HOLD HIM!!' he ordered for the second time as no one seem to move.

'RAN!!' Shinichi shouted, running towards the building. Two officers held onto his arms tightly, though unsure. 'LET GO OF ME!!!' he ordered. 'RANNN!!!'

'Shinichi!' Hattori barked, punching the said man's face roughly. 'Wake up. It's just a trick. Don't you see?! They're just trying to get back at you!!' he reasoned. But Shinichi was beyond reason. How could you blame him? After all he'd heard.

The forgotten tape keep rolling…

'_Kill me…' _

For a second, no one move. And then, everything happened at once. The one eyed man let out a blood-chilling laugh and tapped the soles of his shoes twice as Shinichi broke free from their grasps and ran towards the building. Officer Megure punched the off button on the recorder as Hattori shouted at Shinichi.

And the building exploded in a gigantic burst of fire.

'_Kill me…'_


	5. Somewhere out there

'Are you still looking for her

'Are you still looking for her?' the vaguely familiar voice rang through the mobile phone as the man continued to walk in brisk short steps towards the bar. He pushed the door ajar and winched slightly at the blast of cold air.

'Yes,' he stated simply for the hundredth time. 'Yes, Hattori. I'm still searching for her. And I'll always be searching for her. So would you stop asking?' he sighed.

'Shinichi… Are you going back…' he stopped, as if reconsidering his question. '…for Christmas?'

The said man ordered a glass of wine and sighed, 'No, I'm not.'

'Please?' he paused again. 'Kazuha thinks it'll be better if you're there. Mr. and Mrs. Mouri would want you there. You're parents will want you there.' He paused again, 'Nee-chan would've wanted you to be there…'

'Hattori,' he gripped his drink fiercely. 'I do not want that award.' He stated bluntly. The twenty-one year old detective who've almost single-handedly pulled down the world's largest and most influenced syndicate. _'So stop pestering me!'_ he almost said out loud.

'Shinichi…'

He took a deep calming breath. 'I'll find her, Heiji…' he repeated to himself and the rest of the world, lest he forgets, 'I'll find her...'

'Shinichi…' they've had this conversation before. And Shinichi have had this conversation with a couple others. 'I know… how much you loved nee chan. And how much you still do… But that alone… can't bring her back to life, Shinichi… however much you want to… And we all know it's hard on you. But it's hard on us too. But you should stop looking for her, Shinichi. Nee-chan's dead and you know it. All the clues and trails lead it back to that one agonizing fact. It's not like Mr. Mouri, Shinichi-'

A static of silence followed by, the young detective cursed loudly and slammed the phone angrily. His childhood friend looked at him expectantly with that slightly annoying, -well?- look. He shook his head and threw the well prepared speech into the wastepaper basket.

'I told you it wouldn't work!' he stated angrily. 'Aho!' he added, more due to habit that anything else.

'Well, it didn't hurt to try, did it?!' Kazuha retorted, hands on her hips.

'Then why didn't you try it?!' he shouted back, 'Aho!'

'_I_ am not his best friend!' she bit her tongue, wanting to take back the words as soon as she uttered them. Heiji's initial look of anger was replaced immediately with one of sorrow.

'I'm not his best friend,' he turned away, 'not anymore.'

* * *

'_Get away from me,' he growled as the officers tried to help him up, struggling out of their grasps. He limped towards the decapitated building, stumbling carelessly, barely caring about his dislocated arm and blood dripping down the sides of his face. _

'_Shinichi,' Heiji whispered, walking towards him. He was sporting nothing more than a few cuts and bruises. _

_There was nothing left of the construction. Bare ground screamed at them like an abandoned mine field. 'Ran…' he whispered, toppling forward and landing on his knees. 'I'm sorry…' _

'_Shinichi…' he touched his arm lightly. 'We should get you to a hospital.' _

_Shinichi Kudo shook his friend's hand off roughly. 'Get away from me,' he said through clenched teeth without even looking. _

'_Shinichi… I'm sorry.'_

'_Get. Away from me!' he repeated, louder this time. And with more malice. 'I should've died with her…' he said, in almost a whisper. 'I should've been there for her…' he raised his one good hand to his face and stared at the blood dripping from the tips of his fingers. 'I should've told her…' he closed his eyes in anguish. 'I should've _saved_ her,' he looked truly in pain then. 'All I manage to do was make her suffer…'_

'_No, Shinichi,' he placed a comforting hand on his friend's bloodied one, 'Nee-chan loves you… More than anything else in the world. She's happily in love with you. You brought her joy, more than anyone, or anything else-'_

'_GET AWAY FROM ME!' he shouted. 'Don't you see?! If it weren't for me… she would've never been in this mess!' he gave a short, pained laugh, 'if I weren't so damn persistent about the organization, Ran would've never-' _

'_Stop blaming yourself for god's sake! SHE MIGHT NOT EVEN BE IN THERE!!' and thus, Hattori uttered the word he grew to regret for a long, long time. _

_Realization dawned upon the great detective as he imbibed the knowledge. He got up and stumbled towards the two men. No one moved to stop him as he grabbed on by the collar roughly, 'Where is she?' _

'_You just missed her,' the one eyed man laughed. 'But we _do_ have more of those nice tapes…' _

_He slammed the guy against the car with his one good arm, 'Where is she?!' He felt like he's been repeating a lot of stuff lately. _

'_She _WAS_ in the building,' he laughed. He went limp suddenly and Shinichi released his grasp almost immediately, proceeding to scan the area with wildly moving eyes. _

'_What's wrong?' Officer Megure enquired._

'_There's someone else here…' and for a moment, they thought he had lost his mind in his grief. Shinichi kicked the dead man lightly so that they could see the bullet wound on his forehead. 'He's been shot.' _

'_This one's dead too!!' a fellow officer informed. _

'_There's someone else here…'_

* * *

_A slight creak of the door warned him of company. Yet the occupant made no move to welcome the newcomer. He sunk even deeper into the comfort of his couch, willing his unwanted visitor to leave. The computer screen cast an eerie glow over the library as the familiar voice repeated the same verses over and over again from the electronic gadget. _

'_Shinichi…' the visitor whispered, walking towards him. 'Turn that thing off. You've been listening to it for ages…'_

'_Get out,' it was more of a general statement than anything. _

'_Shinichi,' he coaxed, trying a different approach. 'At least grab something to eat. How many days has it been since you last eaten? Come one Kudo, you wouldn't want to starve to dea-' he stopped himself and stole a tentative glance towards his friend. Shinichi had not heard him. _

'_It doesn't sound like her,' Shinichi stated after an eternity of silence, running a hand through his already messy jet black hair. He was talking mostly to himself, not paying the slightest heed to the unwanted guest. _

'_I…' Hattori stopped himself yet again. Let him get out, find out for himself, he thought at least then, he'll get some fresh air. _

'_Get out,' he repeated, closing his eyes this time, tuning his friend out completely. _

_Hattori backed out of the room slowly, squinting though unable to see his friend clearly in the dark. He sighed helplessly as he closed the door. _

'_Any luck?' _

'_No,' he sighed, he's been doing that a lot lately. 'He's been in there for two days… And I don't think he ate, drank or slept.'_

'_Is she really…' she was unable to let herself say the cursed word._

'_I… I don't know…'_

* * *

He ordered another one of the foul things. Soothing music filled his ears, but none into his mind. The bartender gave him a sad smile.

'Had a disagreement with someone?' the man enquired in English.

He shrugged, 'You could say that.'

The pianist played something more joyous. The man refilled his glass, 'on the house.'

Shinichi nodded his thanks. Sad green eyes stared back at him through the mirror, 'who's playing the piano?'

He looked horrified, 'you don't know?' He muttered something very fast in smooth Italian. He took a deep breath, 'Mallory. I trust you've heard of her?'

Shinichi frowned, 'Mallory…' he took a small sip, the bartender looks ready to kick him out. 'The papers say… "The Angelic Pianist"?'

The elderly man looked relieved, 'Yes, that's the one. She's getting popular, isn't she?'

Shinichi shrugged again, 'I've never really been to her performances.' _Even if I had, I was probably forced there and I probably slept through it. _

'She's amazing. Let me introduce you to her,' he volunteered. 'Don't know her?!' he blabbered something very long, and somewhat improper in another dialect before continuing in English, 'After she finishes her pieces, I'll introduce you to her.'

Shinichi looked bewilderedly at the bartender, 'There's no need, really.'

'You're a traveling man, no? The orchestra is also traveling. It'll do you good to have something to look forward to,' he grinned mischievously. 'Don't look so surprised, you're the famous Shinichi Kudo. My daughters talk about you all the time. They think you're very brave and very romantic to go search for her.'

He stared blankly at the empty glass, 'I'm just as guilty and responsible.'

* * *

'_Someone was taking over your job while you're gone, you know' it felt wrong, talking about her like this behind her back. _

'_Who?' _

'_Her mentor.' she laughed, tears streaming down her face. 'Poor Ran,' she sobbed. He let her recompose herself. _

'_Where's this mentor?' he asked after she seem better._

'_He died on one of those faulty ships on his way back. That was after Ran…' she started sobbing again. _

_He felt vaguely guilty, doing this to the distraught lady. But no one knew Ran better than Sonoko. And Sonoko _did_ approached him first. _

'_Then there was this man who lived in her apartment for a short time.'_

_It took Kudo all his might to not slam his hands on the table and shout _'WHAT?'

'_Ran short-messaged you about it, didn't she?' she stated after seeing his gawp. _

_He thought back. Oh, yes. So she did. _

'_Anyway, I didn't know he was there until I went into her apartment without prior notice to return her notes. He was sitting crossed leg on the ground. When he heard me enter, his eyes shot open and for a second I thought I was in the wrong apartment. But then Ran appeared from the kitchen. I almost had a heart attack,' she laughed at the memory. _

'_He had… the most haunting blue eyes. He claims to be a chemist, but I'll put my money on the army. And he was…' she paused, glancing at Shinichi uneasily before continuing, 'he was very much in love with her. Though I don't think Ran had a clue. She enjoyed his company, I can tell. And he didn't try to take advantage of her. At least, not that I know of. But Ran has never been a good liar, so I'm sure he's been a perfect gentleman. Ran told me about his injuries. And I've been out with the two of them for a few times,' she smiled. _

'_Daniel was very protective. He wouldn't let her walk anywhere near the side road. And we always kept to busy streets. And he had a million ground rules for everything. But then, I've never really heard him talk…' _

_Shinichi was imbibing all she had to tell and filling them neatly in his mind. _

'_Then he just disappeared,' she sighed, then laughed, 'and Ran got herself a cat.' _

_He found himself laughing with her. That sounds very much like Ran. But it's confirmed now. This explains why Ran's father is still alive. And Ran might just be with the man. _

'_Tell me about her mentor.'_

'_Doc.?' She looked thoughtful. 'He took her to a lot of dangerous places. I don't like him very much. But Ran respects him.'_

'_Why?'_

'_I'm not sure. He just feels like he's hiding something. Like he's hiding a lot of things. But I don't really know much about him. Just that he helped Ran a lot in her studies. Oh, I brought pictures,' she took out a small pink picture book from her bag and handed it over to Shinichi. She wiped her eyes, apologizing softly. 'I'm turning into Ran,' she whispered, smiling to herself. _

_Shinichi flipped the book to the first page. He smiled gently and flipped through the pages with ease._

'_Why are you smiling?' Sonoko couldn't help but be a tad curious. _

'_Ran…' he hesitated_

'_She's beautiful…'_

_Fresh tears tickled down her cheeks._

Author's note:

Done… For the time being anyway. I'm sorry for not updating earlier. Life's been busy. (actually I just got lazy) lol. Kidding. I had an important exam (which I aced by the way) and then I had to find myself a college (which I found within a month) and then I was unfairly bombarded with a ginormous amount of homework (which I never failed to NOT finnish). So, I want reviews and encouragement!! I wanna know if anyone thinks this is worth continuing. Review people!!


	6. Ran's messages

RAN'S MESSAGE #1  
Shinichi… I think I'll message you from now on. Talking to the phone feels kind of weird when I know you probably won't be listening at the other end.  At least not so soon anyway. You must have an excuse for not wanting to have any contact with me.

RAN'S MESSAGE #3  
Conan-kun said he'll be leaving to stay with his parents. I'm a bit worried about him. I really wish he could stay, but I'm would be really selfish to ask that of him. The two of you are really similar you know?

RAN'S MESSAGE #4  
The house feels awfully quite without Conan-kun. I hope he's doing well at his parents.

RAN'S MESSAGE #10  
Went to a karate club sleepover yesterday. I was stupid enough to call home and leave Conan a message that I'll wont be back. Silly ne?

RAN'S MESSAGE #13  
I'm going to the Girl's under 18 karate tournament next week. Practice practice!

RAN'S MESSAGE #15  
Utterly exhausted. Msg you tomorrow.

RAN'S MESSAGE #18  
Taking a break today. I'm going to go shopping for presents today. What're you doing Shinichi?

RAN'S MESSAGE #19  
It's been two weeks since Conan-kun left. I miss him. Shinichi. I miss you.

RAN"S MESSAGE #21  
I won the competition I told you about last week. Sonoko took me to a fancy restaurant to celebrate.  I stopped by your place by the way. I prepared a Christmas present for you. I passed it to Professor Agasa so you could get it when you stop by. Happy Christmas.

RAN'S MESSAGE #30  
I went to my father's flat this morning. Mom's been awfully nice about accompanying me there. I'm glad they're not at each other's throat anymore. Next, I'll just have to figure out a way to get them to live together again. :)

RAN'S MESSAGE #33  
Business has been terrible lately. Anyway, dad's thinking of going back into the police business. Mom's totally against it. Claims I need someone to take care of me at home. :P liar.

RAN'S MESSAGE #40  
I saw a man lurking outside the agency today. Remember the two men we saw at the amusement park? I think he's the one with the long hair.

RAN'S MESSAGE #45  
It's a beautiful day today Shinichi. Sonoko and I went to the beach for a swim. Just wondering what you're doing today.

RAN'S MESSAGE #52  
Exam's finally finnished. I'm going into medicine I think. What'd you think? Mom says I'm no good in Law. Wonder why. But anyway, Sonoko insisted I give medicine a try. Why not? Then you can be Sherlock and I'll be Watson.

RAN'S MESSAGE #59  
I've decided. Medicine it is. They've even got a Karate Club! I'm so excited. Wish you were here.

RAN'S MESSAGE #63  
The facility placed me under the care of the famous Doctor Crawford. You know, the surgeon who gave us a talk at school a few years back? I'm so glad. He seems like a nice guy.

RAN'S MESSAGE #64  
Doctor Crawford seems a bit… different from what we've last heard of him. He sounded happier… last time he gave a speech at school he was dull and all… emo.  or maybe I've just adopted your silly knack to being suspicious of everyone.

RAN'S MESSAGE #66  
Doctor Crawford is great! He even allowed me to watch him operate on a patient. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I'm glad Sonoko talked me into taking medicines.

RAN'S MESSAGE #71  
The doctor requested the school to let him bring me for a short trip. We'll be going into a small village the help them with the flu the villagers have been infected with. I'm so glad.

RAN'S MESSAGE #72  
Sorry I haven't messaged you all week. I forgot my handphone at home and the doctor did not have one. Hope you're not worried.

RAN'S MESSAGE #81  
Can't believe the exams are here already. Conan's friends came yesterday by the way. They were asking it Conan had any contact with me since he left. Queer, ne? Are you sure you two are not under some conspiracy? Disappearing together…

RAN'S MESSAGE #83  
The exams are coming. Hope I'll do well.

RAN'S MESSAGE #89  
Looking forward to the holidays. Sonoko and I will be going ice-skating. Dad says he's gonna stay home and see if there'll be any business. I doubt it.

RAN'S MESSAGE #92  
We found Kyougoku-kun at the ice-skating facility just now. Coincidence?  Sonoko is really, really happy though. Kinda makes me wish you were here too. Silly, ne?

RAN'S MESSAGE #95  
I rented an old apartment near my University today. Mom says coming to and fro her apartment in the wee hours of the morning and deep into the night is too dangerous. It'll be a good change. The apartment's pretty small. And it's pretty cheap. So, no complains. :P

RAN'S MESSAGE #96  
First night in my apartment. It's very nice here Shinichi. Remember when we went camping with Proffesor Agasa? It feels a bit like that. When are you coming back?

RAN'S MESSAGE #99  
I found an injured man outside the apartment today. He had a few bullets in his torso and a couple more on his arms and legs. He was unconscious and bleeding badly but when I told him I'll get him to the hospital, he struggled and told me to let him die rather than hand him over to the hospital.

RAN'S MESSAGE #100  
I let him stay in my apartment. I did learn something from all those trips the doctor let me tag along in. I hope I did the right thing. He could be some runaway criminal.  but I doubt it, he looks too harmless to be a criminal. Maybe he just doesn't like hospitals.

RAN'S MESSAGE #101  
He's getting better, thankfully. I spent the day in my apartment. I can't believe I'm stupid enough to not bring him to the hospital. What if he dies?! I'm such a moron...

RAN'S MESSAGE #103  
He's not awake yet, but he's recovering slowly. The wounds are not too deep, fortunately. I tried your 'Holmes' on him. He looks in his late twenties, no visible scars whatsoever(except for the bullets wounds, that is), crew cut brown hair and somewhat rough hands. I'll put my money on the army. What'd you think Shinichi?

RAN'S MESSAGE #104  
He's awake! Says his name is Daniel but his coworkers all call him Soju. Strange, ne? A chemist. :P My bad.

RAN'S MESSAGE #114  
He's well enough to walk now. I hope he won't be leaving too soon. I do enjoy some company. Though he doesn't really talk much. If at all. But I don't really like the look he gives me sometimes. It gives me the creeps.

RAN'S MESSAGE #115  
Daniel and I went for a trip to the amusement park today. He's not much of a game-player. And he keeps looking around as if he's looking for someone in the beginning. But he relaxed after a while. I think he enjoyed it. I know I did.

RAN'S MESSAGE #118  
He left.

RAN'S MESSAGE #120  
Dad's back in business. I'm so glad for him. He finally decided to give up those alcoholic drinks. Come to think of it isn't Soju a name for a type of liquor? I wonder where he is now?

RAN'S MESSAGE #133  
Sonoko and Makoto are going on really well. I just wish I could say the same for mom and dad. They're giving each other the cold shoulder again. sigh

RAN'S MESSAGE #139  
I think I'll join the tournament in Los Angeles next month. The doctor insist I take a break. I did a swell job in the practicals last week. I've had lots of practice. 

RAN'S MESSAGE #141  
I've convinced mom and dad to let me go to Los Angeles. I'm so excited. Wish you'll be back by then. … Maybe we could go together?


	7. Overestimated

Disclaimer: Not mine.

_The lone figure sat huddled beside the gate, partially obscured by the walls, invisible at the moment thanks to the snow. There she stayed, as she had for the past twelve hours, unmoving, uncaring. Completely oblivious to the search party that had been looking desperately for her at the very minute. _

_She wasn't crying, nor was she mourning. The shock suffered by her poor mother when she found Ran, sitting sprawled on the floor, holding what she thought to be her dead husband's decapitated head to her chest as if her life depended on it, was enough to put her through two months of psychology therapy. Ran herself, oddly enough, felt nothing. _

_Well, except pain. _

_That, of course, came right after she found her father, and it would return later. Now, she felt nothing. The cold had mercifully numbed her. She shivered and held her snow-covered jacked closer. _

_Taking a deep, ragged breath she tilted her head back and looked up into the heavens, a soft almost seraphic expression on her face. Closing her eyes, she stood on uneven legs and walked away, leaving behind a small mechanical device. _

_The police found it five hours later, lying harmlessly by the detective's mansion, the unsent message still clear on it's screen: _

Shinichi, where are you?

* * *

'_Heiji…' her voice on the phone sounded weak, as if she had just woken up from a nap. _

'_Ran! Where the hell are you? Everyone's looking for you! We're so worried!' Kazuha shouted, holding the phone tightly in her hands, refusing to surrender it._

'_Kazuha, can you put Heiji on the phone please?' _

_Perfectly polite, unflinching. As if she is without a thought in the world. No, 'Relax Kazuha, I'm fine.' Or even a 'I'm sorry I made you worry.' It sent shivers down her spine to hear her gentle friend talk like that. She handed over the phone with a dumbstruck expression on her face. _

'_Ran, where are you, everyone's worried sick!' he repeated as soon as he has the phone in his hands._

_Silence greeted him. His mind worked furiously, thinking of all the places there could be that would be completely silent. _

'_Tell me where you are, I'll go get you,' he decided firmly. _

'_Hattori-kun… Tell me about this case Shinichi's been working on. And…,' Heiji was almost afraid the phone line had been connected when she continued, 'and tell me about Conan-kun…' she paused and added, as if as an afterthought, 'I want the truth.'_

_Heiji hesitated for a second. 'What do you want to know?' he asked. _

_He didn't know what made him do it, but he told her everything. There was not a sound from the other end of the phone when he talked. No gasp of surprise, no exclamations, no screams of fury, no tears of anger, no words of acknowledgement, no questions asked._

'_Thank you.' And a click when he was done._

_The couple never heard from her again._

_

* * *

  
_

The man walking purposefully into the bar had a gargantuan bag strapped onto his back, so our inquisitive young detective could've help but be curious about the profession of the man. Shinichi peeked black hair under the ominous looking hat as the man in his mid-twenties (perhaps) scrutinized his surrounding behind thick black glasses. His patronizing gaze, for reasons unbeknownst to Shinichi, paused two seconds too long on himself before the man looked away and continued to survey the bar. He put his heavy luggage down casually on the table before walking towards the piano. Shinichi's curiosity was further evoked when the man, without a warning of any kind, proceeded to force an alarmingly big headphone onto the pianist head. She stopped playing promptly and sat demurely, as if awaiting further instructions, giving him the suspicion that she was quite used to such treatment.

The bartender opened his mouth to protest. He wisely shut up when the stranger pulled a gun from beneath his jacket.

'Tom, I know you're here,' he had a deep, clear voice that commanded attention. _A commander of some sort, _Shinichi thought.

'Chill it. Keep your gun buddy,' a man in the tux sitting in the back rose and walked towards the armed man indifferently. To the bartender he said somewhat apologetically, 'don't worry, we're both cops. He's just angry I took his fiancée out for a walk.'

'I told you to stay away from her,' his gun was aimed menacingly on his head.

'She was lonely. I just figured she needed company.' _Russian accent,_ Shinichi guessed. He was surprised he didn't feel the least threatened by the armed man. _Perhaps all the anger's focused on one man_. _No… not that… I'm not threatened… because the nobody else is.. And most important of all, the man whose head is being targeted is unworried, so why should anyone else be? _True to the fact, everyone seemed quite used to the scene, as if angry husbands and lovers with guns were everyday occurrences.

'She doesn't.'

'Oh, don't be unreasonable. You and I both know she can't be left alone,' he leant against the wall and crossed his arms haughtily.

'I-'

'Don't start on the pet now. You don't expect an animal to keep her company do you? You might as well just leave her to me when you're busy.'

He decided he has a point but choose to glare at the man for a few more minutes before turning away and putting his gun away. He retrieved his bag, heaving the deadweight onto his back easily, 'I'll find a way that does not involve you.'

'Come on now, kid-' the gun emerged out of nowhere in nanoseconds and was pointed at his forehead once again.

'Not a word.'

'Fine… Fine… I'll pretend I'm not here,' he looked mildly amused as the stranger removed the headset from the young lady's head.

'Tom?' she whispered inquisitively, 'is anything wrong?' Her voice was as her melodies were, ethereal and as she walked into the light, Shinichi found himself staring at her. Her beauty was celestial, her brown hair almost cascading down her sides delicately. Her skin was somewhat sickly pale, but it only added to her seraphic appearance. She was wearing a silk-like material that hung to her feebly. He couldn't grasp her accent, nor could he guess her origins by merely looking at her. But the reason he was staring, was the simple fact that she was unsighted.

The now unarmed man responded by bending down slightly, placing an arm beneath her knees and lifting her up, bridal style. She gasped in surprise, but quickly regained her composure. She wrapped her arms around her lover tightly and hid her blushing face at the nape of his neck.

'I'm sorry I made you worry… Tom said you didn't want me anymore,' Shinichi heard her whisper as they walked past him. He saw the man tensed and threw a look of pure contempt at the said man.

'Let's just go home,' his voice was soothing as he addressed the young woman in his arms, not at all like the tone he used when he was addressing the older man just now.

* * *

'_What do you know about the man whom she lived with?' he questioned through the phone, sounding breathless._

'_What man?!' Heiji asked, revealing immediately that he knew nothing of the man. _

_Shinichi hung up promptly. If Hattori doesn't know, it's safe to assume that Kazuha doesn't either. 'Who the hell are you, Soju!' he shouted. _

_He's not a chemist, that's for sure._

_He walked over to his laptop, plugged in his earphones and continued listening to the recording (previously hidden in her closet, beneath several layers of towels, wrapped in an old t-shirt)… _

'_And who the hell's Dr. Crawford?'_

'_Entry one, first day, two three hundred hours. Dr Crawford and I reached the village at oh one hundred hours this morning. The poor children are in dire need of medication. We've been working ceaselessly since. Dr Crawford insisted I do this during my trip, since we'll both be working in different parts of the region with no modern mean of communication available. Why did I forget to bring my handphone?! In any case,, Dr Crawford told me that I wouldn't be able to use the phone even if I bought it. Anyway, the people here don't speak Japanese, so it's kinda weird. Dr. said it'll be quite lonely after a while so he wanted me to record my voice and pretend I'm talking to someone. But we're both no strangers to loneliness, are we, Shinichi?' _

'_Second entry, third day, fifteen hundred hours. I was done with vaccinating the children by twelve yesterday and had to move on to the adults. They were much less co-operative. Anyway, I met up with dr. Crawford and he instructed me to start curing their symptoms one by one, since we couldn't bring the necessary medication, we had to make do with the ones they have. I really learnt a lot this morning from the doctor. But I'm boring you, aren't I Shinichi? The children are very sweet. They weren't very trusting though, but we'd get through... Eventually.'_

'_Third entry, sixth day, twenty three hundred hours. At least we're sure the vaccination works. There were no new cases since three days ago. But we're still busy with the sick ones here though. I've been teaching their 'doctors' here how to make do with the limited supply of medication. Dr. Crawford says we would be heading back tomorrow morning. I'm sorry to say I can't wait, I really regret not bringing my mosquito repellent. Dr. Crawford's right. It does get kind of lonely here after a while. I've been thinking, Shinichi… I'm forever worried that you would change, that your personality would be different once you return, that you wouldn't like spending time with me anymore, that you… you won't like me anymore. I'm just wondering… have I changed, Shinichi? And if I did change… would you like the different me? Because I know I will always, always love you.'_

'_Fourth entry, seventh day, oh one hundred. Dr. Crawford went over to visit me today. We talked. A lot. The world is a very, very ugly place Shinichi. But if we can make the best of it… it is still beautiful. … I'm not making a lot of sense, am I Shinichi?' _

'_Fifth entry, seventh day, thirteen hundred. The little children here gave me flowers. That's so sweet, don't you think Shinichi? Dr. Crawford decided to stay for a few more days but he insisted I go back first, since I have classes to attend and a test on Wednesday. The boat ride was very exciting, especially when we're driving through the stream on our way back. The nice man let me have one of the fish he caught earlier that day. Anyway, end of entry. Been nice talking to you Shinichi.'

* * *

_'Sorry fella's. My friend is a little peculiar,' he shrugged as the duo disappeared into the night, 'But you know how young men in love are,' his good humored laughter was soon joined by the rest of the people in the bar.

'How much do I owe you?' he enquired amicably.

'Actually I owe you. Mallory has been great for business,' he bent down and retrieved a bottle of wine, 'here, as I promised, nineteen eighty nine, from my very own villa.'

'Thanks. I'll be needing that,' he laughed affably.

But there was no mirth in his eyes when he turned to Shinichi as he headed towards the door, 'Stop searching.'

Shinichi reacted instantly by gripping his arm.

His hazel eyes were chilly when he turned around and glared at the young man, 'the teenager you were in love with died a long time ago.'

'Who are you? And what do you know about Ran?' his fingernails dug into the stranger's arms painfully.

'All you need to know is that she's dead. Accept that. She's dead, she won't come back,' he whispered into Kudo's ears, 'no matter how hard you search,' then patting his arms lightly as if they were old friends, he pulled his arm out of Shinichi's grasp and walked out of the bar, leaving the dumbstruck detective staring at the door.

He ran out after the peculiar man five seconds later but by then, he was nowhere to be seen. He walked back into the bar. The bartender was slightly taken aback by the determined and slightly murderous look on his face.

'Tell me all you know about the trio just now,' he commanded the innocent bartender.

He looked mildly alarmed at the enraged figure breathing not two inches from his face but years of experience of working in bars where men usually get drunk taught him that panicking is the worst thing to do in these situations. 'Sit down.' He placed a glass of liquor in from of Shinichi.

* * *

There was a total of three times in which she got away from his line of sight without his knowing. Once, was when she was lost in the crowd on the way to dinner. Silly mistake to make, really. His co-workers would have been greatly amused by the blunder. He seems to make a lot of silly mistakes when he's around her. Can't seem to understand why. He found her two agonizing hours later, on the grand piano in the middle of all the commotion. He had been wondering why the pianist had been playing those heart wrenching songs in the middle of Christmas season…

He stood amongst the crowd and considered – briefly- on whether he should drop a little something by the piano to destroy evidence. Deciding against it (too many witnesses), he sighed and enjoyed the music with the rest of the crowd, not knowing that the brief two-hour (free!) performance his little angel is giving is going to bring him a lot of trouble in the days to come.

He didn't really understand music. But the pieces must've been really good. He deduced this from these observations:

A number of the people in the crowd were listening with their mouth wide open.

Most of them, however, had their eyes closed.

And people were taking pictures.

_Pictures…_

A tiny jolt of electricity made the connection and he could think properly again. Climbing onto the stage, he pulled Mallory from the piano and disappeared into the crowd. (A convenient art he mastered long ago).

The second and third time was entirely his fault. He put her under a tree and forgot. Twice.

Believe it or not, on his way to get her a snack, his employer called and the thought poor Mallory waiting for him under the tree in the park slipped right out of his mind. That was one of the few times he was grateful for stalker Tom. The man, who claim to have just finished a job himself and was passing through (coincidentally) when he saw neglected Mallory, decided to take her home. A little bit of persuasion and 10mg of depressant and she was falling into his arms. Literally.

Luckily for Tom, he was quite familiar with this sort of medication. He managed to convince Mallory that he meant her no harm. But she was adamant on going back to waiting for her forgetful (and slightly irresponsible) caretaker. It had been fun terrorizing her... until he fell for her too. There's something oddly compelling about the blind, naïve woman that draws men to feel obligated to protect her from the horrors of the world. He vowed to stop making fun of his slightly demented friend in business dinner parties to come.

Or course, all fun has to come to an end. Mallory disappeared. He wisely left the rest of the matter in his friend's hands and disappeared for the next few months.

He was furious when he saw her picture on the front page the news in Italy two weeks after he remembered he forgot her (which would make a grand total of about four weeks). Some music enthusiast got her to perform in an orchestra apparently. It took him two days to steal her out of the grasps of the overly friendly bunch of lunatics that insisted Mallory was part of their family.

Unfortunately, he had had to beg for forgiveness. Four weeks is a very long time. For the next few times however, he was wise to leave her in the presence of a piano. Time passes quickly when she's playing one of those things. And he allowed her to join in one of those crazy traveling orchestras. Stupid decision really. A beautiful woman guarded by a paranoid man in the spotlight is never a good thing…

* * *

'What's the man's name?' he asked, getting somewhat impatient with the long-winded and irrelevant story.

'I'm not really sure. The tabloid has a dozen names for him. But I've heard him being referred to as 'Soju' by the doctor. But for some odd reason, Mallory knows him as 'Daniel'-'

Shinichi felt everything beside him go dark as he made the connections.

Note: I'm so so sorry. I have a credible excuse this time. I dropped out of college and went to a university. And now, my life hangs in the balance. Life sucks. go figure.

(For those of you who knows what SAT is, I was busy with that. And school. And am now busy with SAT II. Damn.)

And to top it all, my stupid school is trying (note: _trying_) to kick me outta my apartment (apparently, we're not allow to stay here during the holidays for _personal reasons_). A lady barged into our place this morning and went 'Why're you still here?!'. What happened next is typical of those scenes in those drama series, you know, where skinny, mean, old landladies grab the poor skinny guy/girl by the hair and drags him/her down the stairs, then feed him(let's just stick with him) to the dogs, and proceeds to hang his dead body at the gate as an example to all those who dares to overstay their welcome? …

__ Pray I find a place to stay…

Or this story will never end…

I'm gonna stop blabbering now…

This is all my friend's fault…

She fed me something…

And now I can't stop typing…

Which reminds me. Does any of you read terry prachett by any means? Damn swell writer.

Oh, and a big hug to all of you who've reviewed. I love you guys. :D Thank you~~ keep reviewing please.


	8. Crack Conversation

'What do you propose we do? Hand her over to the organization?'

'…'

'I'm sorry. That was stupid... Ours, maybe?'

'No.'

'You're right… Charles does not tolerate failures. Accepting this case was a failure in itself. Maybe… Maybe Charles will be compassionate and let us keep her.'

'Keeping her in the mansion is not an option.'

'Good point. Compassion is not one of Charles' known traits. Return her, maybe?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'No.'

'Yes… you're right… In her current condition, that's impossible.

'…'

'Why did you save her father in the first place?'

'It seemed the appropriate thing to do at that time. A life for a life.'

'Yours or mine?

'…'

'Why did we save her anyway?!'

'…'

'That was a stupid question.'

'Yes, it was.'

'Why am I the only one giving suggestions. Think, Soju!'

'I'm thinking.'

'You should bloody well do! You're the only one who knows how to fix her!'

'…'

'That's it!'

'I'm not going to like this, am I?'

'_You take care of her_!!'

'…'

'I'm serious. Since she –literally– can't live without you and since you're going to be put on probation, you're the perfect candidate!'

'Why would I be put on probation?'

'I'll say the failure was your fault!'

'…'

'That wouldn't work, would it?'

'No.'

'I hate you.'

'The feeling's mutual.'

'Let's just give her back. We can find a way to convince her. They might have a good enough doctor.'

'_Might _is not good enough for me.'

'If you're such a perfectionist, then you think! I'm going to keep quiet now!'

'…'

'…'

'…'

'Say something damnit!!'

'I'm thinking.'

'…'

'…'

'…'

'Well, think harder!'

'You're pathetic.'

'Shut the **** up! You're the one who got us into this mess.'

'…'

'That was unfair. Sorry… Stupid detective brat's the one to blame.'

'We could give her to him.'

'Over my dead body. He's brought her enough pain as it is.'

'That was a stupid suggestion.'

'Yes! Score one for me!'

'I'll keep her.'

'…'

'…'

'The hell you would! You can't even remember to feed yourself!'

'You suggested it just now.'

'It was a stupid proposition stated out of desperation.'

'We are desperate.'

'You're right. Desperate times calls for desperate measures! Use your two months sick leave!'

'Charles says I can have a year if I want.'

'… _what?'_

'I'm getting a year off to take care of her.'

'… _WHAT?!!!!!'_

'I'm standing right in front of you. Stop shouting.'

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE GETTING A YEAR OFF?!'

'Charles granted me permission to take her somewhere safe so that she'll recover.'

'AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THIS EALIER BECAUSE?!'

'It was fun watching you tear your remaining hair out.'

'YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE… YOU DESPICABLE #$% $##$%$^# %$#%$#%# $%$^%$*&(^&*^%&$%^#$^%$%^$#!#'

'Watch your blood pressure Crawford old man.'

'DON'T CALL ME THAT.'

'That's what she knows you as. So that's what you're be called from now on.'

'How the hell did you get Charles to 'okay' your holidays anyway?'

'…'

'…'

'…'

'You're blushing.'

'No, I'm not.'

'Yes, you are. You're blushing!'

'Say that one more time and you'll wake up bald tomorrow morning.'

'Okay, okay. You're not blushing. Your face was red to begin with. What did you tell him?'

'You don't need to know.'

'The hell I don't. _Tell me_!'

'No.'

'Soju, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Your choice.'

'…'

'I'm calling reinforcements.'

'You won't.'

'Watch me.'

'…'

'… … Hello, John m'lad! How are you!! Listen, are you free? … Oh great, do you remember the little chat we had the other day? Involving a certain snake? … Good, now would you-'

'I'm not falling for that.'

'Wait a sec. I'll put you on speaker. …

'John?'

'Soju! Is that- *click'

'Now that was downright rude.'

'You're pathetic.'

'Tell me, or I'll be calling Marie next.'

'Just how many people have you let in on this?'

'Oh, quite a few. We're one big happy family, you and us… whether you like it or not. Either way, we're putting the company on the line here by saving her. And if anything every happen to you and I, we can always trust the family.'

'The _entire family?!'_

'Yes.'

'I hate you.'

'Thank you. Now, don't change the subject. What did you tell him?!'

'…'

'I'm calling Charles…'

'Itoldhimiloveher'

'… WHAT?!'

'I told him I'm in love.'

'…'

'He proposed we get married.'

'Wow!'

'He volunteered to raise the children…'

'Wow!'

'He wanted us to live in the mansion.'

'WOW!!'

'He gave me a house in New Zealand.'

'WOW!'

'I think he lost his mind.'

'WOW!!'

'He gave me a year to get over it.'

'Then?!'

'I think he believes I'll get over it after a year.'

'Good lord.'

'He says he was waiting for me to "get out of the shell", whatever that means.'

'… Don't tell me you've never slept with a woman before!'

'…'

'Marie's never made a move on you?'

'Do you have a death wish, my friend?'

'Relax Soju. I was kidding. But it's not like you two are related by blood or anything.'

'Forty years is long enough for you I suppose, old man?'

'Fine. I'll drop it…'

'…'

'You're really never ****ed anyone?'

'…'

'Not even Marie?! Everyone's done her!'

'Crawford, do you wish to be castrated?'

'Okay. Fine. So, what do you do with your vacation breaks?'

'I don't need vacations.'

'Sick leaves?'

'I don't get sick.'

'Soju, you're a saint. A sinful one. But a saint nonetheless.'

'…'

'Make full use of the one year break, my naïve and stupid friend.'

'…'

'…'

'…'

'How is she?'

'Sleeping, still.'

'You say she won't remember.'

'It's better that way.'

'Yes… yes… She is beautiful, you know.'

'She has always been beautiful.'

'Love struck puppy.'

'…'

'You're blushing again.'

'Hair. Gone.'

'Okay, okay. I'm shutting up.'

Note: This is the result of too many crack fics. Hope you guys understood the bloody thing. Maybe I should just remove this… Reviews please. Oh yes, and while I remember, questions are loved. See, I've had this story in my head for so long that I've forgotten which points make sense and which points I'm supposed to explain. So, please?


	9. Explanations

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Note: I'm so so sorry for not updating earlier. XD I was caught up in another genre (naruto: Hinata/anyone but Naruto). Lousy excuse, I know. I also lost inspiration to continue and write this fanfic. Then I thought, it'd be cruel if I didn't explain myself. So, there you go. This is for those of you who're still reading. And those who've reviewed… *glomps* I love you guys! Now… enjoy.

He threw the empty wine glass against the window furiously, shattering the fragile item. They glittered against the moonlight hauntingly, daring him to go and pick them up and put them back together. That was impossible. His life had been shattered the day he lost her and unless he could somehow find her, shattered would he remain.

He hid his face in his hands, trying to connect the little dots that he had gathered in the bar tonight. He knew who Daniel was but he had never heard of Tom before tonight. Though he very much doubt that he is the 'Crawford' he had heard about from Ran. Tom was too young, not yet twenty even, he suspected. Even though he hid in the disguise of an elderly man, there was not much he could do about the eyes that shone with youth.

It took the great detective the night's sleep to realize he had just been overestimated. The man called 'Tom' had assumed that Shinichi had found them not by chance and had deemed it necessary to caution him against following them. He cursed under his breath, climbed out of his bed, and proceeded go through the pockets in his jacket. As his hands met a hard, metallic card at the bottom of his coat - embedded on his jacket through masterfully applied glue and hidden in fabric of roughly the same texture – he swore loud and long.

He stumbled to his laptop, turning it on with slightly shaking hands. Inserting the memory card into the slot, he prayed to the gods that this would help shed some light into the turmoil going through his mind... And a tiny part of him prayed that he would be able to hear her voice again.

The only file in the memory card was a recording labeled, 'Ran Mouri'. He felt himself tense as he double clicked on the icon. He was disappointed, however, when he heard the voice of an old man…

'_Mr. Kudo. If you receive this message, then it is already too late. My name is Dr. Crawford. I am Ran Mouri's doctor in charge. I'm sure she mentioned me to you some way or another,' he laughed lightly, 'even though I specifically told her not to. But I doubt she would keep anything secret from you. Though, I cannot say the same for you. I am truly sorry I never had the privilege to meet you,' he guffawed, 'Ran practically worships the ground you walk on and I wanted to see for myself if you are worthy of her love.' _

'_I have time on my hands, and I hope you have time on yours because this one-sided conversation is going to take a long time…' _

Shinichi unconsciously made himself shifted himself into a more comfortable position on the couch and closed his eyes.

'_She may not know it herself, but the first time I met her was at a park. She was a little more than fifteen at that time. And I was contemplating suicide. Everyone in the family goes through this phase in some points of our lives. Most of us make it through. Some… don't.'_

'_It seemed as if she was waiting for someone. Either way, she smiled as she saw me and sat down next to me. She had me talking before I knew it. It comes naturally for her, doesn't it Shinichi? She can just make people confess their deepest darkest secret to her, and still she will not judge them. She will nod, smile, comfort and carry our burden, even if there were not hers to carry. Still she willingly shared it.'_

'_Shinichi, do you mind if I just call you that? That is-,' he pause here and, as if it hurt to correct himself, he sighed, '_was_ how she refers to you and I suppose that is how you are known to me. That day, without knowing that she did it, Ran gave me the courage to live on. I went back to my life for a little while before I realized that I needed to see her again…' he took a deep breath, 'I realized I might just be in love with her._' Shinichi felt the muscles in his stomach tightened,_ 'but then, as I spent more time with her, I realized it was more than that. I was grateful to her, my life is indebted to her and I felt like I owed it to her to keep her safe. Without knowing it, I started to live for her.' _

_His voice was fraught with anger as he continued, 'Do you realize how much danger you put her in by staying so close to her?! Don't you realize that by leaving her when you found out she was being targeted, you put her in more danger than ever?! It was a blatant proclamation that she knew something and you are not willing to share her in your little 'bring down the Black Organization' scheme anymore. I do not care if your friends and family have been trying to comfort you by telling you otherwise, but Ran being captured was entirely and completely your fault!' he took a deep breath, as if calm himself. _

'_They had her in their hands for two weeks before Daniel and I managed to track them down. I hope you have gathered enough information about Daniel by now?' he sighed, 'then again, Daniel has always been a master of his own levels in covering his tracks.'_

Shinichi clicked the screen once to pause the recording. He walked over to the fridge on slightly unstable feet and took out a bottle of wine. Pouring himself a careful portion of the red liquid, he numbly registered the fact that he had only been listening half-heartedly. He needed sleep. Nonetheless, he helped himself to a few mouthfuls of alcohol –not taking time to enjoy the fine liquid – before resuming the recording…

'_Daniel has always been elite in our company. Before I tell you about Daniel, let me enlighten you on the nature of our company. We like to refer to ourselves as' the family' for we were all raised and taught under the same roof. We are all orphans, picked up from the streets at a young age to be taught the family's way. I doubt you've heard of us, we pride ourselves in our inconspicuousness. Above all, we pride ourselves in getting rid of the scum of society –for a price, of course. Thus said, we are a small group of elite out-for-hire assassins,' He laughed again._

'_I was in my thirties when Daniel first joined in our family. He was a little more than six, perhaps. We could all see why he was handpicked for our family though, he was a natural killer. He was efficient, heartless and invisible. We stayed away for him out of the basic instinct to survive. Over the years, however, we found that he was perhaps the most loyal of us. He would rather die than betray the family…' _

'_That proved to be useful, for one day, one of our own turned his back on us and attempted to be rid of us. The guilt of murdering so many people had gone to his head and crazed him, causing him to turn the gun on us. I do not know how Daniel did it, but he managed to lead the man away from us. Daniel may well be the best among us, but he was unarmed and the man he faced was an unrivalled marksman.'_

'_It was by luck alone that Daniel managed to overcome his opponent. It was by fate that he managed to find his way to your lovely angel. And it was her loving nature that saved his life.' _

'_He only returned to us once he was fully recovered. But we could all see the difference in him. When we asked him where he was, for the first time since he has been with us, he smiled. We thought that he had gone insane as well but after a little interrogation, he told us about the angel.'_

'_I soon found out that I was not the only one stalking Ran. We later discovered that her footsteps were being shadowed by people not of our family and we took better care to keep her safe. I brought her on some of my charity works with me while Daniel made sure she was never alone when I was kept busy by my work. We took turns. However, we both still had jobs to do, on top of identities to hide and two pairs of eyes were not enough…'_

'_Daniel took the liberty of replacing her drunken father with that of a corpse that I had worked on to look like Mr. Mouri. When the police did the autopsy, I was sure to make sure my name was on top of the list. We thought the organization would take a while to strike after that and loosened our guard. Both of us had assignments to do and left Ran's side for a little while.'_

'_A little while was all they needed to kipnap her. Daniel was compelled to bring down the organization by himself when he first saw the picture in the papers. But a little thinking made him go and check the corpse in the morgue. They faked her death and did the same thing I did about the autopsy so there were two fake corpses in the files instead of one. We finished the responsibilities at hand and proceeded to try and located her without further ado.' _

'_They had her in their hands for two weeks before Daniel and I managed to track them down. It took us a week to find her. If you managed to run into dead bodies in your pursuit to bring down the organization, you now know who's responsible. I have a short recording on the day we found her. I have a feeling you'd like to hang on to whatever you have of her. She has a beautiful voice, doesn't she? _

'_I'm afraid her voice doesn't sound too well here, though…_

She sounded tired, as if her body had lost the capability to speak but her will insists on it anyway, 'what did you give me?'

His voice was filled with malice, 'not so tough now, are you?' he laughed. 'But I'll humor you. It's a prototype medicine our chemists are working on. In a little while, your world will turn dark and then, lets see how loud you can scream, hmm?'

She drew in breath with difficulty, 'That explains why I can't see anything,' she laughed scornfully, 'you had to go as far as take away my sight just to make me scream?'

A loud smack told him that the man had slapped her across the face, Shinichi felt his hands clench into fists. 'Our boss is not happy with you knowing nothing about your boyfriend. Not happy at all,' a soft gasp of surprise as he pulled her hair, 'we might just consider killing you off. But that wouldn't be fun, would it?'

'Take your hands off me,' she ordered softly.

'What'cha gonna dy? Scream?' he laughed scornfully. A loud bang interrupted his laugher. He fell silent suddenly. The door was forced open with a loud thud, followed by a gasp from the man as he was rammed against the wall.

'Who the hell are you?!' he demanded, his voice sounded quite a distance away from the recorder. Shinichi assumed he was out of the room.

An elderly voice startled both Shinichi and Ran, 'Ran, it's me, Crawford. Are you okay?'

'Dr. Crawford? But you're…' she sounded confused. And she sounded like herself again, not the cold, indifferent tone she used against her captors.

'Dead?' he helped, 'I know. Let's just accept that I'm not. How are you feeling?'

She stifled a sob, 'they took away my eyes…'

_Shinichi could almost see the old man fighting to remain calm for her sake._ 'Ran, I'm going to put on some music for you, okay? Don't be alarmed, I'll get back to you in a little while.'

'Do-' she never finished her sentence. The music was loud, even through her earphones Shinichi could hear them. The only reason why they would do that, is because they didn't want her to hear what they're about to say… or do.

'Crawford,' _Shinichi recognized that voice from tonight,_ 'what did they do to her?' he wanted to know.

'A few messy slashes here and there, bruises on her face and they took her eyes,' he sounded professionally calm.

'Who the HELL are you two?!' the man demanded again, only to be rammed forcefully against the wall for the umpteenth time.

'Reinforcements. The Organization reckons you have not been doing a good job,' the sound of a knife flipped open, 'and I can see why.'

'They took away her eyes?' Daniel repeated coldly, hiding none of his malice. _Shinichi felt his blood run cold, he could see why Crawford called him a natural killer. He was terrifying, even through the recorder. _

'Crawford?'

'She can't hear us.'

_And that was all he needed to know before piercing screams filled his ears. Shinichi felt mildly surprised that he found the screams satisfying. He hoped Daniel hurt them well. _

_The screams went on for a while. Shinichi found himself wondering if he would do the same in Daniels shoes. No, he thought to himself. If he had found Ran in that state, and knew the two of them to be responsible, he would've pulled the trigger then and there. _

_These two people found the need to keep her unaware of what they're doing, all the while making sure that they paid for what they have done. _

'Crawford,' there was a loud thud as he threw the unconscious man to the side, 'make sure they don't die.'

Shinichi felt the odd silence Ran did as he turned off the music, 'Ran.' He was once again surprised by the tenderness in his voice as he called her name.

'Soju?'

'What happened to Daniel?' he joked, his deep voice somewhat lighter as he tried to keep her calm.

She giggled, 'Daniel,' she sniffed, 'Daniel, Daniel, Danieldanieldaniel_danieldanieldaniel' _she sobbed his name over and over again, wailing openly in pain and relieve.

'It's okay. We're here,' he soothed. 'Shh… it's okay…'

'I thought he'd come,' she wailed, 'I thought… I thought… Shini-' her voice cracked as she sobbed. He kept silent. 'He's not coming… is he?' she sounded pleading, asking even though she knew the answer.

'I don't-' he paused. He couldn't lie to her, even though it'd make her feel better, 'No. He's not.'

She cried.

_Shinichi wanted to die. He truly did. He wished the Black Organization had killed him. He wished he could kill himself. How he wished he could die. _

_Crawford's voice continued, 'I know it's not fair to show this to you now. But it wasn't fair for her to go through that either. Shinichi, she waited for you for years. And during those two weeks, she waited enough to last a lifetime. You may want to know why I'm telling you all this. First of all, she will have wanted me to. Because, in her own words, "you can't stand mysteries you can't solve". Without help, I'm afraid you will never be able to solve this one. You see, the little angel that you fell in love with had died that day. Because to her, the 'Shinichi Kudo' that she has known and waited for all her life is no longer there. So stop looking, Shinichi Kudo. Even if you manage to find her, you will achieve nothing.'_

'_Secondly, I am no longer alive. I would tell you face to face if you ever found me. But you never did. So you would have to settle for this. I truly wished I had known you. Because then, I might not despise you as much as I do now.'_

'_And thirdly, I want you to know, Ran Mouri may be dead to you. But she is alive to us. And you can never have her.'_

Note: I wrote this in a little more than four hours. Hope it's not too messy but I don't really don't have time to edit it much. I do hope I managed to clear some things up for you guys. If I missed any explanation I shouldn't, ask away! I would also love advices and ideas… because I have no idea how to work on this anymore. Ran and Daniel makes a cute couple, no?

But then, that would be neglecting Shinichi!!

*pulls hair in turmoil*


End file.
